95% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 354 reviews)
Runtime: 156 minutes
Directed by: Phil Lord/Christopher Miller
Starring: Much of the film is just Ryan Gosling
From: Amazon MGM Studios
So, I saw a 70mm presentation of this motion picture. As screenings in this format aren’t that plentiful worldwide, there’d be outrage if I revealed there was a print in Orlando and I selected the digital experience instead.
While not the masterpiece many proclaim the film to be, I can still state that Project Hail Mary was pretty good. Those that haven’t followed me for too long, many films in the past 10 to 15 years are rated lower than typical. Positive comments can be made immediately: this was better than the similar Interstellar & this was only the second Lord & Miller joint for me, so strong my dislike was for their The Lego Movie.
Now, the contrivances and the nitpicking that could be done concerning the linguistics between Grace & Rocky, that is likely at the feet of Andy Weir. I wouldn’t want to read any of his novels, if the (admitted) cherry-picking of his “Reddit writing” passages posted on Twitter are anything to go by. However, the prevalent “humor” and how unfunny much of it was… I’ll blame Lord & Miller; I don’t recall The Martian as having that issue. Never bothering w/ either 21 Jump Street movie looks better every day.
Those elements are unfortunate, along w/ the assumption that I wasn’t suppose to detest the character portrayed by Sandra Huller, karaoke skills aside. Otherwise, Project Hail Mary does a lot right and represents what I want in modern blockbusters, the “borrowing” of certain ideas from the past acknowledged by me. The focus on hard science in attempting to solve a universe-ending problem is always welcomed by me. The score from Daniel Pemberton & cinematography from Greig Fraser: aces. Rocky brought to life by puppetry rather than CGI: great. So is the decision to avoid any usage of greenscreens.
All those details + my acknowledgement that a soundtrack full of nice older songs you never hear in cinema was also appreciated by me, of course it was Ryan Gosling and his great performance that made the film work. Most of the film is either him solo or interacting w/ a rock puppet. A lesser performance & that flawed character wouldn’t have come across as so charming & likable to me… a middle-school science teacher on a hero’s journey alone would have played as preposterous.
Despite my criticisms, by modern blockbuster standards, Project Hail Mary can still be considered a success, a thumbs down-many already know why I made this statement. The screening last night was in a large auditorium that probably was at least 2/3 full; fears were high that it’d be a bad audience experience. For the most part, it wasn’t; I wish the random people sitting by me would have snuck in some Raising Cane’s for me as well, but them sneaking in those large containers of food was an impressive feat…
Ultimately, I was relieved that Project Hail Mary wasn’t mediocre or even worse in my eyes. The unconventional yet lovable team of Ryland Grace & Rocky delighted me and especially delighted the crowd at the screening—many reacted quite positively. To reiterate, the desire is for an increase in films like this (or The Martian) at the cineplex rather than the nonsense we’ve received for much of the 21st century.
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